243 Tasting Notes

In honor of the Deal of the Day I decided to make a pot of this. Brewed hot, no additives, two minutes. The short infusion time gives just enough time to let the spices start to develop but enough of the coconut and lemongrass come through so that this tea is not overwhelming.

Preparation

Finished off the last of my sample of this from Ricky (thank you!!) and I must say it was very good, probably one of the best from 52teas (that I have tried, at least).

The dried tea itself is what appears to be the typical black tea base with small and large flakes of coconut. The coconut smell coming out of this tea is fantastic, it smells like sweetened coconut milk, creamy, coconut-y and delicious. I brewed the tea a few different ways, and none of them were bad, they just varied.

The first way was hot, five minutes, no additives. When the hot water first hit the tea, the coconut fragrance liberated, as it infused, the tea aroma took over the coconut. Unfortunately, this actually smelled a little too astringent and strongly of black tea, that I was afraid I would hate it. That being said, I added some milk. The milk mellowed the punch from the black tea, and made an actual coconut cream flavor. It legitimately tasted like coconut milk, which one would associate with coconut cream pie. Very, very good.

As the pot cooled (because I do not have a cozy and sometimes take entirely too long in between cups) I noticed that the astringency went away. So this time, I enjoyed the cup with no additives. I have to say that it was not that strongly of black tea, there is still a creamy almost vanilla flavor incorporated with the coconut and black tea that does make this creamy without any cream. Fears vanquished, still very good.

The final way, and how I finished my sampling today, was hot, five minute infusion, a pinch of rock sugar and some milk. The sugar made it sweet, very sweet, almost heavy with sweetness, but not unenjoyable, kind of like ice cream, or dare I say it, coconut cream pie. The milk cuts the astringency again and helps to meld all of the flavors, the vanilla creaminess, the coconut flavor, the sweetness from the sugar and of course the black tea flavor into one very delicious cuppa.

Overall, very good tea, highly recommended that if you like coconuts and you like tea, you will probably like this tea. Enjoy!

You ever have so many teas that you want to try that you do not remember them by name? Yea, me too. Anyway, this one was a sample from Ricky, thank you (!) and I have to say that I will DEFINITELY be purchasing this with my next Adagio order.

The leaves are tightly curled oolong, they are dark green but brew a pale slightly golden liquor. The aroma of the leaves is plain, simple, not complicated, almost a faint green tea smell. An interesting note is that I usually pour hot near-boiling water into a smaller teapot that I carry with me around the house, immediately after pouring water into the infusion basket and over the tea, a sweet, almost minty aroma was released. Now ecstatic, I let the tea infuse for four minutes (no additives). Unfortunately, by the end of my brew, that minty sweet aroma was gone and replaced with a mellow vegetal note.

The flavor is surprising, it is gentle, a bit vegetal, a little buttery, with a tiny hint of sweetness at the very end and the cool mouth-feel of a minty tea. Delicious.

Second infusion, two minutes, no additives. I did not get the minty smell again, but it was more pronounced in the tea itself. Still buttery, light, vegetal with slightly more mint. Overall, very enjoyable tea.

If you use more leaf, so that you can steep much shorter times, the short steeps retain that sweet, fragrant taste, and it never becomes vegetal. At first, that frustrated me. I wanted to taste what I was smelling. Shorter steeps are sweet and crisp.

Still have some of my sample pack left, so trying to finish it off. Cut open the pouch and inhaled the delicate aroma of the tea. The dried leaves definitely smell like black tea, with a slightly floral note and sandalwood.

Infused hot, four minutes, no additives. The brewed tea smells like sandalwood, however, I am not picking up any more aromatics. The flavor is mostly a black tea with a slightly woodsy note, the aftertaste is sweet. I cannot actually identify any floral or specifically honey note, just a slight sweetness at the end.

Overall, the tea was pretty good, definitely better while it was hotter. Note, as it cools, the woodsy taste starts to disappear, it is taken over by the sweetness and (finally) a hint of the floral.

Preparation

I try to live my life with no regrets, that being said, I regret not having purchased this tea. I love this tea! Ricky thank you so much! I have experimented with a few different infusion times, so bare with me.

The tea leaves smell delicious, slightly sweetened, smokey, with a slight earthy note. The first time I had it I did a strong brew. Hot, no additives, five minutes. The liquor is very dark, brassy color. The tea tasted smokey and earthy up front, which mellowed into a sweeter, richer tea. Absolutely delicious.

I was able to get three more infusions out of this spoonful of tea. Brew times lessened to keep similar flavor without a burnt, overdone flavor. 4 minutes. 3 minutes. 3 minutes. 2.5 minutes. The liquor color remained roughly the same, the flavors did not intensify or stifle out, each infusion had a new balance of flavor. There was shifting in the front-runner flavor between the smokey and the earthy, but it was always followed by the sweet, strong mouth-feel of the caramel note.

I decided I would write my rating today, so one more spoonful, three more infusions.

First infusion, hot, no additives, 3 minutes. Though the tea is still rich, the earthy flavor is lesser and the smokey flavor is a little more prevalent with a lesser brew time. This alteration in flavor does not hinder the sweet caramel flavor that this tea follows up with. The second infusion (3 minutes) I think added a little more of the earthy-ness and less of the smokey (in comparison to the previous infusion of these leaves). The final infusion (3 minutes) yielded a taste sensation similar to the first time I had it with a five minute infusion: balanced smokey and earthy notes with a sweet rich tea with a stronger mouth-feel than expected.

I have one more spoonful left, I am saving it for a special occasion. Again, Ricky, I cannot fully express my gratitude, thank you, this tea was fantastic!

So I got two boxes of this and have been rapidly converting people to join in its wonder. I can see where people that want the strong, earthy mouthfeel of a pu-erh are disappointed, however, I think that regardless of it’s name, this is just a wonderfully flavored black tea.

Still converting followers to join me in drinking this tea, six down, many more to go…

This will be the first in a short series of backlogs, I have been drinking tea, including new samples from Adagio and Ricky, but I cannot rate them on first taste.

I have been drinking a lot of tea in effort to reduce my cabinets, I have successfully cleaned out three of the large teavana tins, yay! Working on some more. See previous review for this tea, my rating has not changed.

I did however try this one hot with half and half, it made it creamier, a little thicker, but still delicious.

It’s raining, it’s pouring, the cinoi is sn…wait, no I’m up and I still have plenty of tea to drink before it gets too warm to enjoy a nice hot cuppa. There is no need for a full new review, as I enjoyed one cup of this same as always, hot with no additives (see previous reviews) before work.

However, after I had this cup this morning, I was not fully satisfied with it, and insisted on getting some half-and-half to have another cup with dinner. I have never had this tea this way, and I do not know why I really wanted it this way, but it was very good.

The tea is accentuated in every way possible. The half-and-half (being half cream and half milk) was smooth, sweet and light, yet slightly savory and rich at the same time. I believe this helped to bring out all of the different flavors in this tea: I can actually pick up the orange, I still have my spiced cookie with the nutmeg and cinnamon spices, even a bit more of the chocolate, and of course the earthy richness of the black pu-erh tea itself. Adding the half and half might not be the best way to get the true experience out of this tea, but it made each and every sip slightly different than the last. Overall, still a great tea. Infused 4 minutes.

You know, I tried something like this with just a regular black tea. I was at my parents house and being kind of daring. They only had lipton black tea but they had this really yummy coffee creamer with caramel in it. I will get the name of it. But yeah, added a little of this in the tea and it was amazing! Added just enough to give it a totally new taste… and would definitely try again.

Had this again this weekend, made a cup for a friend yesterday and knew that I was done with all of my individual pieces and could crack open a new can. :] The aroma of the wrapped nests of tea all collected in the can is fantastic; it is natural and earthy and almost leathery, a little smoky and sweet like molasses. If I had smelled this tea right out of the can like this before, I would have had no hesitations about the tea. Furthermore, if I had smelled the tea unbrewed as I had today, I would have thought that the tea in the can was completely different from the tea in my cup, based on smell.

Like I said, I brewed a cup for a friend yesterday, got a 10 second rinse and then four infusions out. See previous review for how that was. PS, friend enjoyed the pu-erh. What is new and noteworthy is that up until today, I had been brewing each cake of tea for a cup, never had I tried to make a pot out of it. Today along with Madison we did just that, with a ten second rinse, we did a two minute infusion for a pot of tea (one of the two people Beehouse pots, 22 ounces I think). We infused this three times. (Infusion times per pot varied).

Each time was significantly lighter than when you brew for the cup, but there is a difference. When you brew for the cup, there is the dark liquor, with the nutty, earthy aroma, the taste is what we have come to expect and love and the heavy, coat-your-mouth feel dominates. When brewed for the pot, you get the nutty and earthy aromas, you get the natural, slightly smoky, sweet taste, but the mouthfeel has diminished if not disappeared all together. When brewing for the pot, it becomes smoother and thinner, lighter might be a good word, but not in flavor, just in texture. Sure, you are watering the tea down, by actually adding more water, but the flavors are not compromised.

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Bio

I am a sarcastic perfectionist, a computer nerd, a game geek, an avid reader, a gadget guru, a wine (and tea) enthusiast, and (in my spare time) a chemist.

As I mentioned, I am a chemist, research and development to be exact, so when evaluating tea, it is much like evaluating my products: I will find the flaws and do my very best to fix them because it is what I love to do. Along those lines, nothing is perfect, but can have perfect qualities, I will highlight those also.

I made a preliminary guide to my rating scale:
0-19 – Did not like anything about the tea, feel it cannot be saved without being reformulated.
20-40 – Did not like the tea, it can be saved with extreme amounts of tweaking (i.e., sugar, milk, honey and or blending with another tea)
41-60 – Neutral about the tea, it can be helped or hurt by additives or blends, varied temperatures and steep times
61-70 – Decent tea, needs a little bit of help to get it in the place I like it, but definitely not out of reach
71-80 – Quality tea, liked it, will try again
81-90 – Really enjoyed the tea, high quality, will continue to drink the tea, not looking for something better
91-100 – Loved the tea, will continue to brew and drink and spread the word about the tea to everyone